initiatiies for the city's school district. "i saw him on the first day of school and one of the teachers who knew him said 'this boo ann days and days,' and we approached him and said this diffeeent school year for you. we expect to see you here."in eighth grade, williams missed just five days of school.the he's now a sophomoreein high school with perfeet attendance especially in math."i got bs, and b-plusses nd one a."a johns hopkins universsty study estimates 5 to 7 and a half &pmillion k-12 students are chronicaaly absent each year. that means they miss one &pmaryland ---where the rate is 11 percent -- is one of just six states that track the issue."it's sort of a hidddn problem,,they say it's like actually creates havoc, buu we don't now ii because we're absences are most common in kindergarten and in high school.and low inccme students &pare more ikely to miss class -- often due to transportation or health issues and sometimes because they havv to worr or "we have to gg the extra mile. we're texting parents now, the school system tself is textiiggprincipals and saying you know there